Category: Water
When the revolution in Rojava began, the groundwater level was very low due mainly to industrial monoculture agriculture organised by the Syrian regime over the last four decades, as well as a decline in rainfall as a result of the global climate crisis.
In 2015, Turkey started to use water as a weapon against Rojava by holding back the water on the rivers which flow from Turkey to Syria through the dams it has been building over the last twenty years.
Then, in October 2019, Turkish state forces invaded some areas of North-East Syria, including the region of Serekaniye, which supplies water to almost half a million people in the region around Hasakah. The Alouk water station in Serekaniye was targeted on the first day of the invasion. Since then it has been fixed and then put out of service again repeatedly.
Since the start of the invasion of Serekaniye, Turkish military forces and their allies have continued to attack water infrastructure, burned newly planted orchards and dammed the rivers providing most of the fresh water and electricity to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without safe reliable drinking water, a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the articles below, you can find more information about issues surrounding water and the struggles for water autonomy in North and East Syria. There are also articles here with information on issues around water in southeastern Turkey, such as Turkish megaproject the Ilisu Dam, whose waters have now submerged the ancient city of Hasankeyf, drowning thousands of years of largely unexcavated human history and displacing an estimated 100,000 people, while giving Turkey unprecedented control over waters of the wider region.
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Ecologists: Plunder should not be the fate of this region
The area affected by the fire that erupted between Amed and Mêrdîn and killed 15 people, should be declared a disaster area, ecologists say, “This plunder should not be the fate of this region.”![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SOLARDARITY-750x375-1-150x150.jpg)
Solar-powered water well provides vital resource to town in Kurdish-led North and East Syria
A solar-powered water well has been constructed in Dêrik, a town governed by the Autonomous Administration North and East Syria (AANES), marking a significant advancement in sustainable infrastructure in the Kurdish-led region.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240705-20240705-20240705-11-jpg53a860-image-jpg23cb44-image-jpg3374fd-image-150x150.jpg)
Project in Hasakah aims to solve water crisis
The Turkish state has been stopping the Alouk water station from pumping drinking water. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has developed a project aiming at solving the ongoing water outages affecting 1.5 million people.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240712-image-870x-669044263de56-jpegb9a21a-image-150x150.jpg)
Drinking water reaches Hesekê
After the water stations were put into service again and the problems with the Xebûr Canal were resolved, water began to be supplied to the neighborhoods of Hesekê from the Euphrates River.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-from-2024-07-08-14-20-45-150x150.png)
Time of Harvest in the women’s cooperatives
The Women‘s Economic Committee began harvesting the crops of wheat, lentils, cumin, coriander, fenugreek and barley from the women‘s cooperatives for the 2024 season and delivering them to storage centers in the region.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240705-img-20240705-192808-649-jpg405794-image-150x150.jpg)
Water to reach Hesekê in less then 48 hours, says Democratic Autonomous Administration
The Democratic Autonomous Administration institutions started to operate stations that would pump water from the Euphrates River to reach the city of Hesekê in less than 48 hours.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240610_solarbrunnen_bau_paneelgeruest_05-e1720183606819-150x150.jpeg)
New solar energy in Dêrik: The Construction of the solar powered well began
After the Turkish airstrikes against the infrastructure in Rojava, the Democratic Autonomous Administration together with initiatives of international solidarity are developing ecological solutions.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240617-20240617-image-870x-666f3317e7718-jpg9ac6fb-image-jpeg0090d7-image-150x150.jpg)
Rojava: Drip irrigation against desertification
Agriculture is one of the main causes of desertification due to its massive water consumption. In Northern and Eastern Syria, attempts are being made to stop the desertification process through drip irrigation.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240606-image-870x-662cb0f27e5a4-jpeg91b7e1-image-150x150.jpg)
Final declaration of Rojava Ecology Conference published
Last April, a conference called "Ecology in Democratic Modernity - From Resistance to Construction: Perspectives, Possibilities & Challenges" was organized in Qamishlo.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240507-20240506-05-05-2024-kuzey-dogu-suriye-ekoloji-kurulu-esbaskani-ibrahim-esed-qamislo-nuce-1-jpgdcc848-image-jpeg10228b-image-150x150.jpg)
Ibrahim Esed: Ecological genocide continues
Ibrahim Esed is co-chair of the Ecology Committee. In this interview, he talked about the need to further develop ecological awareness in Northern and Eastern Syria and to oppose Turkish attacks on the environment.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-from-2024-05-03-20-22-00-1-150x150.png)
Women as vanguard of the ecological and anticolonial struggle
Interview with Berivan Omer and other insights from the ecological conference.![](https://mesopotamia.coop/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240422-20240420-18-04-2024-efrin-sehba-kantonu-belediyesi-esbaskani-elif-mihemed-jpgc6b344-image-jpegb751d5-image-e1716972039112-150x150.jpg)